Electrical contacts for pulsed power systems

Abstract

Abstract : Electrical contacts are present wherever two conductors join, including busbar joints and device connections. Electrical contacts for pulsed power applications are normally designed to be low voltage, metal-to-metal contacts. This may be accomplished in one of two ways. The first is to join the two contact surfaces together with enough force to be sure that the contact does not arc during the pulse. Design techniques often involve using contact sizes and forces established for de or steady state operation (I). Another technique is to weld or braze the surfaces together (2). Our concern here is with the first method. Applying a force to obtain a contact can pose a maintenance problem after several pulses. If the initial contact force is not sufficient, the contact will collapse slightly during each pulse. This causes the contact force to decrease, and if the contact force is not periodically increased, the contact will eventually fail. We have developed a technique to predict the force needed to ensure stable operation of a contact through multiple pulses. We describe the technique and provide experimental validation in this paper.